Control-Aware Manipulation of ArduPilot via Legitimate MAVLink Commands: Simulation and Hardware Validation (opens in new tab)

This paper investigates control-aware attacks against ArduPilot-based Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), inwhich an adversary exploits the sensitivity of flight-controller dynamics to parameter changes to cause loss of control and crashes. It describes six attacks that exploit interactions among multi-layer controllers by modifying Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) gains, altering Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) estimation configuration, and vio...